Wild ARMs XF Preview

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The Eastern Western goes portable and tactical.

By Ryan Clements

The Wild ARMs series has long been grounded in a slightly more traditional RPG experience, while showcasing a unique and highly charming Western theme -- one that has grown iconic for fans. The later titles in the series introduced hex-based battles, though they still hadn't fully incorporated strategy gameplay. However, Wild ARMs XF, the newest member of the series heading to the PSP, fully takes the franchise into the realm of strategy RPGs. Sitting down and playing XF (pronounced "Cross Fire") is like playing a Wild ARMs-themed Final Fantasy Tactics.

The game begins with a young blonde gunslinger named Clarissa, attempting to take back her mother's sword from a ruffian named Rupert. Although Rupert overpowers Clarissa, her guardian Felius intervenes and drives the thief away. Discouraged but still hopeful, Clarissa sets out to reclaim the stolen sword that Rupert took to the land of Elesius, but in the process, Clarissa is caught up in a national strife that has besieged the kingdom. It looks to be a long and bumpy ride for Clarissa and Felius, but that's just how RPGs go.

Even though a hex-based battle mechanic was present in previous titles, the dynamic comes to full fruition here and creates a highly customizable, class-based strategy system that strategy RPG fans will be very familiar with. Each character can select a class (main story characters have a personal class of their own) and skills, and equipment can be fine tuned to your liking. The beginning moments of the game offer a handful of classes to take advantage of, including the close-range Secutors, magic-wielding Elementalists, support-providing Fantasticas and the item-using Gadgeteers.

Gameplay is rooted on a world map highly reminiscent of the map in Tactics, where Clarissa's sprite moves from point to point exploring towns and battlefields alike. Most gameplay outside of battle (item management and town interaction) reminded us of the somewhat recent Soul Nomad, an NIS title that listed a bunch of characters present in the area and marked important conversations with an icon. The same is true in XF -- you won't be moving around a modeled town, but rather you'll be selecting conversations and shops from a list.

But of course, you'll be spending the majority of your time on the battlefield. The story-progressing battles at the game's opening are highly objective based, forcing you to free hostages or drive blobs out of a swamp during the confrontation. But the battle mechanics are -- again -- familiar. You decide the classes and equipment of your characters before the battle begins, then you set your characters on the field. After that, each character on the battlefield takes a turn, which usually involves moving a set number of spaces on the hex field and executing an attack or skill. Actions are selected via a circular menu that revolves around the character in question, and you can give yourself a better view of the action by rotating the fully 3D environment to different angles.

So far, we really enjoy the style of the game, even though the sprites look somewhat unoriginal. Character designs, while not revolutionary, are pleasing to the eye and Clarissa is a charming character to follow. Ultimately though, our favorite element of the game so far is the soundtrack, which brings back the now famous Western-style tunes filled with rustic whistling, acoustic guitar and passionate trumpets. Having such a fantastic backdrop not only compliments the game's visual style but enriches the gameplay, so we're pleased that a lot of effort went into the title's sound.

Ready for battle.

As enjoyable as XF has been though, we do have a number of concerns that might continue on down the line. Our first issue is in regards to the game's presentation. Those of you who've played Wild ARMs games in the past are familiar with the series' fantastic animated cutscenes, though they seem to be entirely absent from XF. All story segments are told through still anime drawings, perhaps in an effort to conserve space on the UMD. Regardless, it was disappointing not to have the animation because it was usually top-notch material.

In regards to the battle mechanics, there was one particular element that bothered us at first: a character's stamina. Each turn will drain your warriors' VP, and once this value drops below a certain level, their HP (or health) begins to fall. This can be problematic. A gauge for stamina is nothing new, but it drops surprisingly quickly, and for long battles that require you to traverse a lot of terrain, your characters start taking damage sooner than they should. However, this may change later in the game perhaps through skill supplements or character leveling.

Otherwise, Wild ARMs XF looks like it'll be a solid strategy RPG; whether this will please hardcore Wild ARMs fans is still unclear, but come back soon for our full review in the coming weeks.